3/28/09

According to this spam, I'm eligible to get Pavarotti's money for my work, and to help the "Needy." Yes, as the spam says, "this may sound strange and Unbelievable to you, but it is real and true." It's too bad the spammer can't spell Pavarotti consistently. I changed the email address to protect the spammer. My question is why do they need my name and phone number if I'm an heir? I mean, he would have specified my name in the will, right? So, what should I do with my "sum of Thirty one Million five Hundred Thousand Dollars.($31,500,000.00 )"?

Notification of Bequest On behalf of the Trustees and Executor of the Estate of late Luciano Pavarotti,I hereby attempt to reach you again .I wish to notify you that Late Luciano Pavoratti made you a beneficiary to His will. He left the sum of Thirty one Million five Hundred Thousand Dollars.($31,500,000.00 )to you in The codici land last testament to his will. This may sound strange and Unbelievable to you, but it is real and true. Luciano Pavarotti was known for his humanitarian work. He was the founder and the host of the 'Pavarotti & Friends' annual charity concerts and related activities in Modena , Italy . There he sang with international stars of all styles to raise funds for several worthy UN causes and charity homes. Late Luciano Pavarotti until his death was a very dedicated Christian who loved to give out. His great philanthropy earned him numerous awards during his life time, late Luciano Pavarotti died at the Age of 71 years. According to him this money is to support your activities and to help the poor and the Needy. I will like to read more about him on this website (http://www.imdb.com/name/nm0667556/bio) Please you should fill the information below for more clarities and identification of your Information’s we have here so that will direct you on how to contact the paying bank for the release of your (money) fund.. 1. Full Name 2. Mobile Telephone number, 3. Age 4. Contact address/Country 5. Occupation Yours in Service, Steve Bruce peter76@totalscam.com

3/17/09

Despite the near-freezing temperatures in the mornings, spring is less than a week away. This is the perfect time to start thinking about gardening, with an emphasis on thinking. I usually focus on warm weather crops, like tomatoes and peppers, but I also like to have a couple interesting but easy to grow things like cilantro, bok choi, spinach, and maybe some rainbow chard. I never would have thought about rainbow chard, but I saw so much of it at farmers markets last year that it stuck in my mind.

Speaking of farmers markets, next week is the opening day for most of them. In the Portland area it seems like there's a farmers market for almost every day of the week:

Saturday - When I remember, I like to go to the Hollywood Farmers Market. It runs from 8am - 1pm, so it's nice to wander over there around lunch time, get something to eat and then pick up some locally grown greens & veggies for dinner. Or, a much bigger (and slightly more expensive, I think) market is the PSU Market in the South Park Blocks. They usually have bands, and a ton of vendors.

Monday - No markets, but it's Miser Monday at Lucky Lab, so drink some great locally brewed beer!

Tuesday - I still haven't been to the Lloyd Farmers Market, but it looks like I'll have to wait. They won't be open until June.

Wednesday - The first day for the Moreland Farmers Market was March 13th. They're open in the evening from 3:30-7:30 and our family friend Laura Wendel manages this market.

Thursday - The Portland Farmers Market Eastbank is on my way home from work. I can stop and get some good fruit and listen to music. They're open from 3:30 p.m. – 7:30 p.m.

Friday - Ok, no marketing on Friday. Since I like to support local brewers, I tried to go to Hopworks Urban Brewery as much as possible. The problem is it's too popular. So, maybe I'll switch to Roots Brewing, or this Green Dragon looks intriguing.

3/8/09

When I was in fourth grade my class made blank books, and Ms. Antila's obvious follow-up assignment was to write a story. My friend Don Dike and I decided to collaborate, and worked up an elaborate adventure tale starring our own creations. Writing the books was fun, but reading was more difficult. It turned out that I'd written my character's actions in my book, and Don had written his character into his book, and without the two volumes side-by-side we couldn't make head or tail of the plot.
I'm reminded of this now as I try to follow Twitter "conversations" between people I follow, and those I don't. For example, I follow the creator of the Scott Pilgrim comics, Brian Lee O'Malley. He said he saw The Watchmen, and didn't like it. Well, here's what I saw of his comments:

i want a moratorium on guys in movies talking like batman or rorschach

Watchmen: fucking sucks. Will fight you about it. Our fight: less violent than those in the movie, even when I break your ankle w/ my fist

Everything up to the end of the opening credits: pretty good. After that it was a steep downward curve. Irredeemable by the halfway point.

@capnallegra I'm also not a fan of the original book. Also, did i ever say my book was any better? because it's not any better.

So, does that make sense? It reminds me of listening to a bad actor pretending there's someone on the other end of the phone line.
So, if I'm following someone, I'm not in the conversation, right? But, is Twitter the best place to have this conversation? I mean, sure, it's hot right now, but seems like this is an old-fashioned flame war constrained to 140 character briquettes.
Let's put a portion of this into context. radiomaru is O'Malley:

radiomaru: Watchmen: fucking sucks. Will fight you about it. Our fight: less violent than those in the movie, even when I break your ankle w/ my fist

capnallegra: If @radiomaru thinks the Watchmen movie was "irredeemable," that's BIG TALK for the film adaptation of his graphic novels, boy howdy.

radiomaru: @capnallegra now let's have you explain that comment in 140 characters or less

capnallegra: @radiomaru Almost all fans of Watchmen were happy with the film. You can have your opinion, but it puts pressure on the SP film to be better

radiomaru: @capnallegra i think it puts pressure on YOU, my friend. I didn't see Alan Moore's name anywhere on that film

capnallegra: @radiomaru but Dave Gibbons' was as co-creator. You're the sole creator, and your name will be on it (I assume)

capnallegra: @radiomaru (I do respect you, the Scott Pilgrim series and your opinions. I also want the SP film to be great)

radiomaru: @capnallegra I'm also not a fan of the original book. Also, did i ever say my book was any better? because it's not any better.

capnallegra: @radiomaru Ah, that's different. I assumed that you were comparing it to the source material, to which is is more or less true. My apologies

Which clears up a lot of WTFs? Meanwhile, if I wanted to find out about the "fifth of crack" crack, I'd have to check out @heartfeltrobot's twitter stream.
Ok, I admit I'm an eavesdropper here, but isn't that why O'Malley and other public figures have twitter accounts? To build up their "brand," and to get buzz about their projects? But maybe twitter isn't really a conversation? As my own third-grader told me the other day: "Two monologues don't make a dialogue."
By the way, Michael Cera is signed to do the Scott Pilgrim movie.

3/6/09

I bought some cashews out of the vending machine @ work, and they had the message "new look, same taste!" on the package.That's usually a sign the package has been downsized, and this is 1 oz of cashews for 60 cents (the vending machine co just raised their prices 5 cents).

Embodying fun, excitement, freedom and love of adventure, Miss Kar clearly rules the road in her yellow, peanut-shaped roadster.To introduce Kar's five new snack mixes, Miss Kar is shown driving to a different destination on each of the packages.

I can spot the "peanut-shaped roadster" (it looks like a peanut), but I can't tell her destination.

Also, the company itself has a "fun" web site for Miss Kar. And the web site says Kar's Nuts is not part of the FDA recall, and has never purchased any products from the Peanut Corporation of America.